Concluding Reflections on Change and Continuity

Gorden Moyo () and Kirk Helliker
Additional contact information
Gorden Moyo: Lupane State University
Kirk Helliker: Rhodes University

A chapter in Making Politics in Zimbabwe’s Second Republic, 2023, pp 263-270 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This final chapter revisits the central issue of this book in the context of the preceding thematic-based chapters, namely, change and continuity in relation to the Mugabe and Mnangagwa governments, with a particular focus on what we label as Mnangagwa’s formative project. There is general agreement across the chapters that Zimbabwean scholars must not rush to conclusions about the fundamental character of the Mnangagwa regime, and that unpacking the various dimensions of the Second Republic’s formative project is a worthy analytical endeavour. However, despite the wide-ranging official articulations of this project, the chapters demonstrate that the project has not taken off in any serious manner. Hence, as the chapters show in their own unique way, the project’s limitations are clearly evident. These limitations exist because, currently, the risks of change to power-retention far exceed any risks arising from simply retaining the current political settlement. This raises deep concerns about the space for dissent and mobilisation leading up to the upcoming national elections in 2023. We conclude by arguing that until such time as ordinary Zimbabweans can openly dissent and mobilise against the Zimbabwean government without fear of repression, Mnangagwa’s formative project will remain stalled.

Keywords: Zimbabwe; Mnangagwa; Formative project; Change; Continuity; 2023 elections (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:aaechp:978-3-031-30129-2_14

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031301292

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-30129-2_14

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().